Lot Essay
Akt und Stilleben succinctly illustrates Baselitz's decision of 1977, the year before he executed the present painting, to work in diptych form, based on compositions of abstract images of nudes and still-lifes. As in most of his works since 1969, the images are inverted so that the viewer is challenged to see the formal and painterly aspects of a work and not just its contents.
As Andreas Franzke explains: "In 1969 Baselitz took the decisive step, which was to govern all his subsequent work with the exception of the sculptures, and adopted the inverted subject technique as a consistent principle. By doing so he compelled the viewer to pay attention not only to the content - the theme is clearly illustrated - but also, and primarily to painterly values. He was also committing hinself to a much more difficult method of representation. He had to capture in his mind's eye an inverted image of reality" (Andreas Franzke, Georg Baselitz, New York 1989, p. 111).
Baselitz himself further explained "I decided in 1969, or from 1969 onwards, to disperse with narrative and content and deal only with the things that painting normally uses: landscape, the nude, the portrait, the still life and so forth. That is a decision which defines a certain path and has a constricting effect. But in terms of the overall image, I think it pays off...The hierachy which has located the sky at the top and the earth at the bottom is, in any case, only a convention. We have got used to it, but we don't have to believe in it. The only thing that interests me is the question how I can carry on painting pictures." (as quoted in ed. Angelika Muthesius, Georg Baselitz, Cologne 1990, pp. 94-6).
The considerable scale of Akt und Stilleben reveals the confidence with which Baselitz approached this principle, executing a work not only based on two separate, inverted images, but also on two wholly unconnected sections of canvas, which however require the other to create a complete unity. In the present work, the painted surface is alive with the vibrant application of paint and the contrasts of pure red, blue and black emerging from a pink and grey background. The colours in Baselitz's palette from the late 1970s and 80s call to mind the chromatic brilliance and daring of Nolde and German Expressionism, by which Baselitz has exploited his German origins to their best advantage. The compelling inversion of subject matter, combined with the vigorous and generously applied brushstrokes, bring the painterly values of the work to the forefront.
Indeed, Akt und Stilleben further illustrates Baselitz's artistic development at this time as his style became "increasingly gestural, and pronounced dissonances of forms and colour make their appearance. The triangle and rectangles of previous works give way to a more animated line that breaks down the rhythmic syntax and keeps boundaries deliberately imprecise. The traces of the painter's hand at work become the major expressionist force." (Andreas Franzke, op.cit., p. 139).
As Andreas Franzke explains: "In 1969 Baselitz took the decisive step, which was to govern all his subsequent work with the exception of the sculptures, and adopted the inverted subject technique as a consistent principle. By doing so he compelled the viewer to pay attention not only to the content - the theme is clearly illustrated - but also, and primarily to painterly values. He was also committing hinself to a much more difficult method of representation. He had to capture in his mind's eye an inverted image of reality" (Andreas Franzke, Georg Baselitz, New York 1989, p. 111).
Baselitz himself further explained "I decided in 1969, or from 1969 onwards, to disperse with narrative and content and deal only with the things that painting normally uses: landscape, the nude, the portrait, the still life and so forth. That is a decision which defines a certain path and has a constricting effect. But in terms of the overall image, I think it pays off...The hierachy which has located the sky at the top and the earth at the bottom is, in any case, only a convention. We have got used to it, but we don't have to believe in it. The only thing that interests me is the question how I can carry on painting pictures." (as quoted in ed. Angelika Muthesius, Georg Baselitz, Cologne 1990, pp. 94-6).
The considerable scale of Akt und Stilleben reveals the confidence with which Baselitz approached this principle, executing a work not only based on two separate, inverted images, but also on two wholly unconnected sections of canvas, which however require the other to create a complete unity. In the present work, the painted surface is alive with the vibrant application of paint and the contrasts of pure red, blue and black emerging from a pink and grey background. The colours in Baselitz's palette from the late 1970s and 80s call to mind the chromatic brilliance and daring of Nolde and German Expressionism, by which Baselitz has exploited his German origins to their best advantage. The compelling inversion of subject matter, combined with the vigorous and generously applied brushstrokes, bring the painterly values of the work to the forefront.
Indeed, Akt und Stilleben further illustrates Baselitz's artistic development at this time as his style became "increasingly gestural, and pronounced dissonances of forms and colour make their appearance. The triangle and rectangles of previous works give way to a more animated line that breaks down the rhythmic syntax and keeps boundaries deliberately imprecise. The traces of the painter's hand at work become the major expressionist force." (Andreas Franzke, op.cit., p. 139).